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Queen City Black Comix Day Participant Zakiyya Ashe

Zakiyya Ashe joins the list of participants for the 2nd annual Queen City Black Comix Day on June 25! A senior at Berea College majoring in biology, Ashe will bring her anime-influenced art to the event.

Midwest BSFA: How did you get into comics? Are you a long-time fan? Ashe: I got into comics when my sister showed me her Inuyasha manga collections and I was hooked from there. This happened when I was 10 so I’d say I’m a long time fan.

Midwest BSFA: What are you influences? Ashe: I have a lot of influences like artists such as Einlee, tumblr artists like seventypercentethanol, johannathemad, hamletmachine, lazy-afternooner, ammeja, just to name a few.

Midwest BSFA: Why do you want to participate in Queen City Black Comix Day? Ashe: I think it’s important to recognize a group of people that is barely recognized in the comic/animation industry. Creating that visualization can inspire others who resemble this small group to want to become comic artists themselves and that’s cool!

Midwest BSFA: Why do you think it’s important to support black comics creators and illustrators? Ashe: There aren’t that many black characters in [mainstream] comic books and those that exists are rarely ever created by black people. It’s important that we have black people start telling their characters’ stories with accuracy and giving their characters more substance than the majority we have currently exposed to us.